Published: 01/21/2021
It’s been 55 days since I started going Vegan. I’m still only 37 pounds down at my lowest. I feel frustrated and annoyed at that reality. I’m going to do something about it.
Non scale victories are important, and I’ve had a lot of them; the key thing that keeps coming back is my energy and health is like nothing like it has been in years. I have higher levels of endurance, fewer asthma symptoms and a happier state of being overall. One major victory is that I have not eaten a single animal product in nearly 60 days, not even when my in-laws invited us over for prime USDA steak, I had a POTATO I brought. That’s my life now. I’m weird and a bad ass, I annoy people with my silly diet and I’m loving almost every minute of it, almost.
The hardest part lately has been getting on the scale. I’m feeling HEALTHY, I’m still losing weight but I’m stuck. Almost 28 days ago, Dec 24, 2020; I had lost 33 pounds. That’s great, amazing and awesome, but I have not lost 40 pounds. I’m not losing weight anymore. This is fine, if I want to keep being a healthier obese guy, but my goals aren’t changing, and neither is my weight. It’s pissing me off. If I lost weight like Penn J, I’d be 30 days away from my goal of 100 pounds. When Penn was at day 55, he was 252 pounds!! I’m 50 pounds from there, STILL. Frustrating
It’s either off the bus or time to find a better way
I’m cranky today. Yesterday, I was craving a steak, whiskey sour and some ice cream; mostly due to the fact I was cold, and we took a twisty road by the mountains home. I slept terrible last night, so please forgive me. Almost 3 months ago, I had some semiserious health concerns (not going to share here, and Don’t ask Mom!!), enough to warrant some testing. 3 months later and 2 months into this craziness, all is much better. But I need to see some forward progress or I’m going to want to quit. I have 3 more months until my birthday and I need to try better
It’s time we look at what I’ve been doing.
What have I been eating?
- Chilis: beans, white rice, canned tomatoes and a ton of spices
- Indian: Lots of rice, sweet potatoes, coconut milk and flavor
- Breakfast: Quinoa or Oatmeal with bananas, chia, blue berries, flaxseed milk, maple syrup or agave
- Lots of salsa and some corn chips
- Vegan tacos
- Lots of hummus, homemade or low ingredient store bought, with lots of veggies: carrots, celery and cauliflower
- Lots of grains: oats, rice (white rice), quinoa, brown rice and some things with GF flours
- Lots of sweet potato curry soup with coconut milk
- Drinking 2-4 liters of water and 2-4 cups of coffee with a bit of agave
- Drinking sleepy time tea with some agave
- Lots of frozen or fresh berries, cuties, apples, bananas
- Vegan chocolates (A few times a week)
- Chips (corn, sweet potato, black bean, baked and fried)
Where I went wrong
Two weeks into the potato diet, I decided my meal of choice was going to be a sweet potato soup. It was delicious, since then, I’ve probably had about 5 times that original soup. I slowly started to make my diet less whole food, plant based and more vegan. Not that being vegan is bad, but it’s not helping my weight loss.
The key as I listen to Presto, and I broke down and bought the kindle edition today, is that I’m missing the “Whole” part of a “Whole foods, Plant Based Diet”. It’s not about shopping at whole foods, or eating the entire thing, but it’s about eating a whole piece of food.
When trying to lose weight this way, eating lots of vegan milks, fruit, grains and sugars will stall you out because it converts to glycogen in your blood and your body prefers glycogen to fat because glycogen is much easier to derive energy from; or so says the nut Cray Ray.
I stopped taking cold showers, I started to look to food for entertainment again and I also ate some chocolate.
Keeping the goal in mind
I’m 304 today. I have 74 pounds to my goal; I’ve allowed the goal to slip though I’ve kept the date. The date is my birthday, which is 99 days away, I can and will do this. I just need to buckle down. I’m eating a steak on my birthday, if and only if, I’m within 20% of my goal: 230-250. I’m going to eat that steak. I want to eat a large New York Steak with a glorious baked potato with butter and sour cream AND have my first glass of wine in almost 3 months.
What not to eat, according to presto
- No meat
- No animal products
- No refined anything
- No pasta
- No white rice
- No bread
- No salt
- Don’t add salt: not even in cooking
- No oil of any kind: no olive oil, no flax oil, no avocado oil, no coconut oil
- No Sugar, no maple syrup, no agave, no date syrup, brown, white, powder
- No hummus, it’s a not whole plant
What to eat
- Sautee veggies in water or unsalted veggie broth
- Lots of veggies, steamed, baked, sauteed or roasted, no salt, oil or sugar
- Lots of big salads, a bit of vinegar but no oil, some spices, no salt
- Keep eating more potatoes
- Lots and lots of stews
What’s unclear
Do I eat oats or quinoa? What about fruits? I need to figure this part out. Probably cut back or cut out for now.
Presto’s key points
- No exercise until you reach your target weight (Walking and smiling is good though)
- Eating lots of whole veggie stews and taking cold showers
- Having a fed window, e.g.: 5 hours a day of eating when trying to lose weight (19 hours a day without food)
- Always when going out with friends, eating nothing is an option
- Mini fasts are great and good for you; going a day without eating is GOOD
What’s next
- Start another mini potato diet, 3-5 days, maybe another 2 weeks.
- Continue walking on my treadmill
- After potato diet, start eating: more chilis, soups and big salads
- Keep trying
- I’m not going to fall off the wagon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!